Press Release Jacksonville Gymnastics
November 7, 2004
THEIR FIRST MEET OF THE 2004-2005 SEASON
The 2004-2005 gymnastics competitive meet season has arrived!!! Thirty-three Level Four, Five and Six gymnasts of the Jacksonville Gymnastics Competitive Team competed Saturday in three sessions at the Flip-Flop Gym in Pine Bluff. Each of the Jacksonville Gymnastics levels brought home top team awards and many of the gymnasts earned top individual all-around awards. Nine teams attended this meet.
The Jacksonville Gymnastics USAG Junior Olympic Competitive Team has become one of the largest competitive teams in the state and they work out at one of the largest gyms in the state – they proudly call Huff ‘n Puff their home gym. The team now numbers 61 competing gymnasts, ages five to sixteen, and competes gymnasts at Levels Four, Five, Six, Seven and Eight.
Jacksonville Gymnasts have worked very hard and continue to work hard to bring home top honors at their meets. Last summer, over seventy team members worked at Huff ‘n Puff from nine to sixteen hours a week, and they have continued to work from six to twelve hours a week—depending on their level--since school started. The gymnasts have been working to perfect their gymnastics skills from tumbling to accomplishing cartwheels or back handsprings on the beam, to moving with ease from the lower bar to the higher bar, on to running at full speed down the runway towards the vault and flying over it with confidence and ease. The team is coached by Head Coach Laurel Spears and a staff of seven highly trained coaches and assistant coaches.
The hard work has paid off. Jacksonville Gymnastics now has 22 Level Four gymnasts; 13 Level Five gymnasts; ten Level Six gymnasts; twelve Level Seven gymnasts; and four Level Eight gymnasts. The gymnasts will compete in at least fourteen meets this season; and some levels will attend different meets. The closest meet they attend will be at the Huff ‘n Puff Annual Sweetheart Invitational Meet February 11 – 12 and the furthest they will attend will be in Springfield, Missouri, and in Shreveport, Louisiana. It is also hoped that the team will have several Level Eight gymnasts who will qualify to compete in the US Regional Competition in Denver, Colorado.
The Jacksonville Gymnastics Team did very well at their first competitive meet of the season. The team members proudly wore their brand-new leotards for the meet. The Level Four team brought home the First Place Team Award, the Level Five team won the Second Place Team Award, and the Level Six team won the First Place Team Award. The Level Seven and Eight gymnasts will not compete until Dec 11 at the large Arkansas Pepsi Challenge to be held at Ouachita Baptist University.
Sixteen of the Level Four gymnasts competed in two different sessions Saturday. This was the very first competitive meet for eleven of these sixteen gymnasts. Besides bringing home the Level Four First-Place Team award, many of the gymnasts won first and second-place honors in individual events and the following gymnasts won first or second place individual all-around awards. Winning all-around means that the gymnast’s total scores on the four individual events—vault, bars, beam and floor--are the highest or second highest.
The following Level Four Gymnasts won top All-Around-Individual honors for their age bracket:
Age 8 Samantha Sobba Second
Age 8 ½ Sydney Hickerson Second
Age 9 Lauren McKibben Second
Age 9 Cami Wright First
Age 10 Kelsy Founds First
Age 11 Caitlyn Dillon First
Age 12 Meagan Trotter First
Besides winning first-place individual all-around, Kelsy Founds, in this her first meet, earned a 9.5 on her beam routine and had a 36.35 total score (out of 40).
Eleven of the thirteen Level Five gymnasts won the second-place team award and the following gymnasts won the top individual all-around awards for Level Five:
Age 8 Mackenzie Powers Second
Age 11 April Pitts First
Nine of the ten Level Six gymnasts won the First Place Team Award. The following gymnasts won top honors for the Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Six Team.
Age 9 Courtney Ellis Second
Age 11 Morgan Bussard Second
The Jacksonville Gymnastics Team, Levels Four, Five and Six will compete next weekend at Delta Gymnastics in West Memphis.
Huff ‘n Puff also has a boys competitive team that was begun last May. The six team boys, ranging in age from seven to eleven, will compete as Level Four gymnasts at their first meet November 20, at Sonshine Academy in Conway. The team will attend six in-state meets this season. Shane McDonald is head coach and two assistant coaches help him with the classes. The boys practiced twelve hours a week during the summer and they are now beginning to practice nine hours a week. Boys compete on six events as compared to girls who compete four events.
Huff ‘n Puff holds open workouts and classes and the public is invited to join the many parents to view the gymnasts—girls and boys--to learn more about the sport of gymnastics.